Undertaker s sanitary sheet



(No Model.) I I V W. A. GRIFFITH-8v S. LOVELL UN DERTAKERS SANITARY SHEET.

No. 590,188. Patented Sept. 14,1897.

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Nl-TED STATES WILLIAM A. GRIFFITH AND SIDNEY LOVELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

UNDERTAKERS SANITARY SHEET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 590,188, dated September 14, 1897. Application filed February 12, 1897. $erial No. 623,206. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, WILLIAM A. GRIF- FITH and SIDNEY LOVELL, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in an article known as an Undertakers Sanitary Sheet; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to an improvement in undertakers sanitary sheets for use on cooling-boards while preparing a corpse for burial. IIeretofore undertakers have used merely a plain sheet of rubber or other material, or

nothing at all, and it is obvious that while washing the corpse, using embalming fluids, or in dropsical cases, where there are drippings from the corpse, it was difficult to take care of these fluids, prevent them from ruining carpets, and possibly spreading contagious diseases.

The present invention obviates these difficulties, and consists of a sheet of rubber or other material impervious to 1noisture,around the outer edge of which is formed an inflatable tube. This tube is provided with an airvalve, to which may be attached an air-bulb or air-pump, and when the tube is inflated the sheet becomes practically a shallow pan, which prevents all liquids from escaping except by way of the drainage-tube, which is attached at a convenient place in the sheet and conducted into a bottle or other receptacle. The air-tube is made easily collapsible so that when the air is released the sheet may be folded into a verysmall package and thus be convenient for transportation.

The parts and combinations of parts will be hereinafter more fully described and pointed out.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a perspective view ofthe improved sheet ready for use as it rests upon an ordinary cooling-board, showing the inflated tube A, the air-valve B, and the drainage-tube C. Fig. 2 represents a plan of the improved sheet, looking at it from above. Fig. 8 represents a transverse section, on a larger scale, of the improved sheet, showing the air-tube A inflated. Fig. at represents a longitudinal section, reduced in length, of the improved sheet,

showing the inflated tube A and the drainagetube 0.

Arepresents the inflatable tube, surrounding' sheet. The tubeis either an integral part of the sheet or made separate of rubber or other impervious material and secured to the sheet. The sectional form of the tube is not necessarily round or oval. It may be of any form that will best serve the purpose.

B represents an ordinary air-valve such as is used on rubber'pillows, air-cushions, &c., which is provided with means for confining and releasing the air in the tube and a nipple forthe attachment of an air-bulb or air-pump or for inflationby the lungs.

0 represents the drainage-tube, which is of rubber or other flexible material, one end of which is imperviously secured to the sheet under an annular opening, which is most conveniently located to properly carry off the liquids.

D represents the body of thesheet proper,

which is of rubber or other material impervious to moisture, and it is either an integral part of the tube or made separate and secured to the tube.

Having fully described our invention, What we claim as new, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is-

As a new article of manufacture for the use of undertakers, a sanitary sheet of such form and size as to adapt it to cover the usual undertakers cooling-board, and having a body portion of rubber or other material impervious to moisture, and a marginal tubular portion adapted to retain air under pressure and affording when inflated a continuous raised or thickened edge or margin, adapted to surround the body and to prevent the escape of liquids, said inflatable portion having an airvalve to allow inflation by a pump, bulb, or

the lungs, and the body portion or sheet having a drainage-tube imperviously secured thereto, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM A. GRIFFITH. SIDNEY LOVELL. lVitnesses:

FRANK W. GRIFFITH, W. S. ROBINSON. 

